— EPP Manifesto —

EPP MANIFESTO

Our idea of a better Europe

We believe that Europe is a vast community of values and principles among which freedom, responsibility, justice, security, respect for the dignity of human life and equality between men and women. We want a healthy society with a new emphasis on solidarity between all Europeans. The European Union must become stronger, simpler and more democratic. The European institutions should focus on specific major issues while leaving other matters to the Member States; we do not want a centralised Europe. Yet we believe in a more politically integrated Eurozone, as we consider the euro to be a reliable currency that assures political stability and makes us more competitive internationally.
As the party of responsible government, we are determined to lead Europe out of the crisis and to create jobs and growth through reforms and smart investments, while preserving social cohesion and good standards of living for all Europeans.

From reformto growth and jobs

Creating the right conditions for sustainable growth and job creation in Europe is our key political objective for the next years. We are committed to achieving this by putting into practice the principles of the Social Market Economy and to implementing reforms in the health sector, pension systems, labour markets and taxation systems. For us, more public spending is not the answer; we reject reckless spending of tax payers’ money. We need to stimulate industrial production, entrepreneurship and innovation, especially in the digital sector, by collaborating with the private sector and helping SMEs. In order to drive investment, we need healthy and responsible banks which we can legally control in case of irresponsible risks. But while striving for a competitive and innovative economy, we also want to preserve the environment: the EU has to be the frontrunner in carbon-free technologies while keeping energy prices affordable. Fighting tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance will also be one of our major priorities for the years to come.

A better futurefor young people

We stand for a high-quality education. We have identified digital literacy as an important issue and we need to build links between education and new technology. In order to provide a better future for young people we must seek to have qualifications recognised across Europe along with greater cooperation in research programmes and greater mobility for students and lecturers. We also want an EU-sponsored network for young entrepreneurs.

Security forEuropean citizens

Free movement of people within the EU is a great achievement, not only in terms of freedom but also in terms of security: having abolished internal borders gives us a tightened control over the common external borders through the Schengen policy. We have to reinforce the cooperation between EU countries on border management, to show solidarity with countries that are on the front line of migration flows. We will tackle social fraud – social benefits for EU citizens should only be available if they have worked in the country where they live – as well as money laundering and corruption. The fight against organised crime and terrorism is also one of our top priorities. Finally, because we think privacy is a fundamental right, we vow to reinforce citizens’ privacy rights by protecting personal data.

Peace and stabilityin a globalised world

In the past decades, new players and power centres around the world have emerged. We want to boost Europe’s Foreign, Security and Defence capacities – enhancing its ability to act in the world and in cyberspace. We advocate for prudence when it comes to further enlargements, but we want to create tight partnerships with the countries surrounding Europe, to create a prosperous, democratic and stable neighbourhood. We want to build a trustful transatlantic partnership while also strengthening our trade relations with countries in Latin America and Asia. And because economic development is a strong factor of peace, we are determined to fight against poverty at a global level.